Experimental Validation of a Filament Transport Model in Turbulent Magnetized Plasmas.

In a wide variety of natural and laboratory magnetized plasmas, filaments appear as a result of interchange instability. These convective structures substantially enhance transport in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field. According to filament models, their propagation may follow different regimes depending on the parallel closure of charge conservation.

Evidence of long-distance correlation of fluctuations during edge transitions to improved-confinement regimes in the TJ-II stellarator.

Long-distance coupling between edge parameters' fluctuations has been investigated in the TJ-II stellarator. Results show long-range correlations in potential fluctuations, which are amplified by the development of radial electric fields during transitions to improved-confinement regimes, whereas there is no correlation between ion saturation current signals. These experimental findings suggest the importance of long-range correlations as a new fingerprint of the plasma behavior during the development of edge shear flows and the key role of electric fields to amplify them.

Lactose-binding lectin expression in human colorectal carcinomas. Relation to tumor progression.

Lactose-binding lectins having Mr values of approximately 14,000 (L-14.5) and approximately 35,000 Da have been found in a variety of vertebrate tissues, including normal intestine and colon, and in several types of tumors such as colon carcinomas. To determine the clinical relevance of such lectins in human colon cancer, specimens from 46 patients with colorectal carcinoma of identified Dukes' stages were selected and analyzed for the presence and amount of lactose-binding lectins by immunoblotting using a polyclonal, rabbit anti-lectin antibody followed by binding of 125I-labeled anti-rabbit IgG.

Increased content of an endogenous lactose-binding lectin in human colorectal carcinoma progressed to metastatic stages.

The quantity and localization of two lactose-binding lectins with molecular weights of 31,000 and 14,500 in human colorectal carcinoma tissue specimens obtained by surgical resection have been studied using specific polyclonal antibodies. Electrophoretic separation and blotting of detergent extracts of tumor tissues (48 specimens), followed by the binding of an antibody that recognizes both of these lectins, demonstrated that the contents of Mr 31,000 and 14,500 lectins vary from one specimen to another. The Mr 31,000 lectin content was higher in tumor specimens classified as Dukes' stage D than in those from other stages.

Modulation of galactoside-binding lectins in tumor cells by differentiation-inducing agents.

The effects of the differentiation-inducing agents N6, O2'-dibutyryl cyclic AMP, beta-all-trans retinoic acid, dimethylsulfoxide and butyrate on the levels of galactoside-binding proteins (lectins) in cultured human and murine tumor cells were examined by immunoblotting. Differentiation was associated with decreased levels of a 34-kDa lectin in the K-1735P and B16-F1 melanoma cells and decreased levels of a 14.5-kDa lectin in S20 neuroblastoma, MDA-MB 175 breast carcinoma, HL-60 and THP-1 leukemia cells.